On the Cultivation of the Dahlia. 131 



under a warm fence, and not to transplant them until they have 

 made shoots three or four inches long ; — but if they are intended foi- 

 a warm and dry soil, I should far prefer to retard their growth, even 

 two or three weeks, as when planted early, they are apt to form 

 their flower buds at a period when the weather is both so hot and 

 dry, as to cause these buds to perish as last as they are formed. 



Tha best mode of propagating Dahlias, is by a division of the tu- 

 bers, which should be effected in such a way as to give to each tuber 

 an eye, as without it, the tuber would be good for nothing. Dahlias 

 are also, sometimes propagated by cuttings and grafting — but the latter 

 method is quite useless, as it is at best, but an inconvenient substi- 

 tute for the former. Cuttings too, it is seldom worth while to resort 

 to, unless it is wished to increase rapidly some choice variety, for if 

 they are struck late in the open ground they neither produce good 

 flowers, the first season, nor ripen their tubers well. When struck, 

 however, in February or March, in a green-house, cuttings make as 

 good plants, in every respect, as tubers, and by many are supposed 

 to blossom even more freely. 



New varieties are of course procured from seed, and if this be sown 

 early in a hot-bed, one half of the plants will blossom the first year. 

 But a person must have the best of seed, and great good luck, who 

 from a hundred varieties obtained in this way, should find one, that 

 would be really worth keeping. 



The following rules have been established at the English Amateur 

 shows, for the comparison of Dahlias with each other. 



The flowers must form as near a hemisphere as possible. 



They must be rose leaved, that is, must have their petals round 

 and entire, not jagged nor fringed. If selfs, (that is, of one color,) 

 then the color must be bright and clear. 



If variegated, they must be regularly so, with each petal marked 

 like its neighbor, and not irregularly spotted. 



The flowers, too, must be supported on stems which hold them 

 out beyond the foliage, and render them distinct to the eye. 



Now a Dahlia possessing all of these qualities, would undoubtedly 

 be very handsome, yet the rules, which require them, are so artificial 

 and restricted in their application, that even in England they are not 

 always submitted to, as the prize varieties which have been imported 

 into this country clearly prove. It is, however, universally admit- 

 ted, that, whatever may be the peculiar form of a Dahlia, its petals 

 should be regular in their shape, and their color bright and distinct. 



In the preceding remarks, I have intended to give merely the re- 

 sult of my own experience. In some points, it may hereafter appear 

 that I have been mistaken, but it may be proper for mo to add, that, 

 whenever I have planted my Dahlias in such a soil and situation, and 

 cultivated them in such a manner as I have now recommended, I 

 have always been successful — but have never succeeded when I de- 

 viated from it. 



